Creature Comforts
by Will-I-Was
Summary: A man of Rohan is captured by a group of orc survivors, but the urge to kill has been driven away and they show him the way orcs were before Sauron's corruption affected them. Set after Sauron's defeat.
1. Chapter 1

**Im trying my best to make these orc stories worth reading but they will get better I promise, anyway lets see how this goes…..**

Creature Comforts

Theodal started to wake ever so slowly, he hadn't been able to recall anything after he felt an orc club crack him on the back of his head, he figured that must have knocked him out, because to his dismay he found that he could not moved his arms or legs for they had been tied with rope rather tightly.

Theodal panicked and tried to get his hands free, squirming and groaning his attempts were in vain, he also fretted about the other members of his hunting party, did they share a similar fate or did they escape? He forgot this immediately and went back to his bound wrists.

"Leave it Tark, you aint doin yourself any favours."

Theodal froze and squirmed around, meeting the confused looks of four orcs, from the markings on their armour they appeared to be from the land of mordor, a land that was bought down in flame once Saurons ring was cast down into the flame from which it was formed.

As each orc took looked at each other, Theodal realised that if he was at the mercy of saurons former minions, that maybe they were out for revenge against men to pay homage to their late master, but he was confused, these orcs weren't menacing, nor were they pinning him down or torturing him, they just stood there until the largest of the orcs slowly walked forward and crouched down.

"Stop trying to fight the ropes, the more you fight, the tighter they get, you aint getting away so quit trying."

Theodal spat as close as he could. "If you intend to put an end to me beast do it swiftly, I will not speak even if you torture me, I will remain loyal to my king."

The large orc just sighed. "Look tark, were not gonna kill you."

Theodal forced a very sarcastic laugh. "What kind of fool do you take me for orc? You honestly think your trickery will work with me."

The orc just rolled his eyes. "If we wanted to kill you, or torture you, we would've done it already."

Theodal thought to himself he had been captured before and those orcs did not have any second thoughts before they had his fellow captives kicked over cliffs or tied to a tree for a popular orc game which involved praying that the orc with the bow would miss you, but these orcs just stood there with no look of malice or hatred, just confusion.

Soon after the silence Theodal sat up. "Were did you orcs come from?"

"Mordor, we came from mordor."

"But I thought it was destroyed and all the orcs killed?"

The orc shrugged. "Not true, some of us survived, got away from the battle, some of us survive, but we don't attack tarks anymore."

Theodal still wasn't convinced these orcs meant no harm so he stoically kept his own information at bay. "Why not, isn't malice and cruelty all you creatures know."

Once of the orcs stepped forward, this one was smaller than the other orc. "Before our master died, he made us do bad things to the taros, he was a voice in our heads, plaguing us, killing us if we didn't do it, then when he died, we didn't get the urge no more, we just stopped killin tarks."

Theodal was nearly in shock, he had killed so many orcs that would've killed him given the advantage, even though killing anything made him feel sick, fortunately that advantage never came, but now he was at the mercy of four orcs, but they didn't want to hurt him.

"Er… so are you all telling me that you have no intentions of killing me at all?"

The orc nodded. "Yeah thats it, unless of course you kill one of ours first."

Theodal was still baffled. "But you attacked us, out of nowhere you jumped out and took out my hunting team."

The orc then looked quite annoyed. "Your filth bowman shoot one of us, he had to die!"

The orcs stood aside to show the body of an orc with an arrow wedged in between his eyes, trickles of black blood still seeping out from the wound as he lay there motionlessly.

"You took one of ours, so we killed your bowman."

"So why did you knock me out and tie me up?"

The orcs eventually spoke together in a huddle before the larger orc crouched back down. "Because during the fight you were trying not to kill anyone why?"

Theodal was surprised, these orcs actually cared? He had to be certain they weren't kidding, but he was so close to being convinced. "Er well Im not really much of an orc killer, to be honest I don't agree to killing any thing at all."

The orcs looked to each other, this surprised them, a whiteskin tark, that didn't take imense pleasure into spearing every orc that even looked at them funny, then the smallest orc stepped forward.

"Do you like orc?"

Theodal thought for a second. "Well yes and no, no in terms of the fact your kind has threatened all of us for years even before Saurons' time and mainly because you haven't shown any interest of hurting or killing me."

The orc turned his head. "We just don't want to anymore."

"The voice of master has gone now, he doesn't tell us to kill anymore, so we don't, but the tarks continue to hunt and kill us."

Theodal was truly in shock now, these orcs were only attacking because they killed one of their own? If they hadnt shot the orc, the others would've just left them alone.

Soon the orc fully sat down with his legs crossed. "Do you have name?"

Theodal was hesitant, but eventually spoke. "Er…. Theodal, I am from Rohan."

The orc shot a polite look, something that was all too new to Theodal an orc smiling, now he had seen everything. "I am Narku, leader of this small band of orcs."

Every orc then sat down, and the small orc leant forward. "I am Craklash."

The Narku, indicated the other two orcs. "And this is Tarburz and Shakgriig."

"Its an..rem pleasure to meet you." Theodal faked a smile, before looking over Narku's shoulder. "Who was the orc we killed?"

The others fell silent before Narku responded. "He was Tharzog, my brother." Narku bowed his head in sadness.

Theodal felt terrible, the he felt shock, he felt sorrow for an orc, he had never seen an orc sad before, angry yes, but never sad, even though he didn't fire the arrow, he assumed if he was going to be around these orcs that he would probably be a slight reminder of their fallen comrade.

"Narku, I am sorry for your brother."

Narku simply grunted. "Its fine, were just glad that his body wasn't taken away."

"if it makes you feel any better, I didn't fire the arrow, but I am curious to know what happened to the others?"

Narku was quiet before Tarburz leant forward. "We fell the leader, knocked you out then the rest legged it."

Theodal was shocked that one of his own had fallen and felt slightly betrayed that his fellows had just taken off, and left him for dead.

Tarburz then broke the silence. "We will bury him at nightfall, but tell us what is it that you do, if not fight orcs?"

Theodal was surprised about all these questions, no killing, no accusing, no revenge for their dead orc, but he decided to just answer and make use of the orcs supposed kindness. "In Edoras, I was a blacksmith."

Tarburz then laughed lightly. "In mordor, I was a smith too."

Then Shakgriig spoke. "I was a tracker."

Craklash. "I was a taskmaster and a trainer."

Theodal started to become quite intrigued he thought all orcs were just mindless killing machines that killed anything that wasn't orc, but they all had jobs although Craklash's job involved whipping, he supposed that orcs couldn't be trained unless whipped into shape, then he turned his head towards Narku, who was still looking at his deceased brother.

"What about Narku?"

Craklash quickly spoke. "He was a captain, as well as the leader of all of us."

Narku swiftly rose, then shook his head slightly. "It will soon be dark, Tarburz, Craklash, gather some wood, Shakgriig, dig a hole for the fire and you." Narku pointed at Theodal, who looked slightly afraid by this change of tone, and even more nervous once Narku came up very close to him.

"I will cut your bonds and remove your weapons, now you must promise me that you will make no attempt to run, we cannot give away our presence more than we already have, if you do try to run, Shakgriig will be set on you, and believe me he will find you, we will treat you like one of us, and if you are good we will let you travel with us, but you must promise me you will not try any hostile moves against us, we may be orcs but we were the orcs good enough to escape."

Theodal supposed he had no choice his fellows had deserted them and these orcs seemed oddly pleasant enough to be around so he swiftly nodded. "You have my work Narku."

"You have made a wise choice." Narku said sternly as he cut the ropes binding his wrists and ankles, and allowing him to stand properly and stretch his legs, he looked around the small camp as he saw the other three orcs preparing the fire.

"Narku." Theodal said quietly. "Allow me to assist you in your brothers burial, its the least I can do."

Narku simply grunted and nodded. "Yeah I suppose."

Theodal was worried, not about the orcs, but about what could happen if his kinsmen could see him now, consorting with orcs.

**Theres the first chapter, let me know what you think, read and review and I'll get some more chapters up as soon as I can :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**For those interested in what my characters look like Ive put some pictures up on my profile showing what you can imagine the orcs and man to look like, anyway the next chapter….**

It was around night time when Narku started to perform last rites on his late brother while the other orcs stood around his grave, silent while Theodal watched with the same amount of silence as Narku carried Tharzorg to his grave and put him down carefully, then Tarburz and Craklash started to pile dirt onto the body until it was buried, then Shakgriig slammed a large engraved stone at the head of the hole.

Soon after, the fire was burning brightly and there were all sat around, Narku had made a decision about Theodal and was never allowed outside the camp without Shakgriig, in case nature called or he needed a walk, but for now Narku was pleased with Theodal's lack of escape attempts.

"So Narku." Said Theodal, breaking the long silence. "What exactly happened after the battle at the gate?"

Narku drank down some ale before sitting up. "Well, I like with all the other orcs ran like hell, and in the fray of the chaos the ground gave way and most of us fell to our deaths, me and Shakgriig managed to get away in time, we ran through some of the deserted orc camps, then soon we got to Cirith Ungol, only to find most of the orcs dead, the only other orcs we managed to find were Tharzorg, Tarburz and Craklash, and we just kept walking around looking for a safe place and wound up in rohan."

"I wasn't around for that battle, all i know is that the great eye went up in flames and a great explosion." Theodal was still curious to know more. "What happened in Cirith Ungol?"

Narku shrugged. "Tarburz and Craklash know more than I do, they were there."

Theodal turned towards the two orcs. "Well what did happen to them?"

Tarburz leaned forward. "Well it started after our two leaders bought in a halfing that Shelob had nearly killed so they stripped him of all his weapons and Gorbag the orc leader, and Shagrat the Uruk leader got into a fight over a shiny shirt then, some of the boys got involved and soon, the whole fortress was full of orcs and uruks killing each other just because of an orc wanted a shirt."

Theodal was confused. "Well what happened to you two? How did you both survive?"

Craklash smirked. "Me and him have been friends ever since we were spawned, we had each others backs, and sure enough it was just me and him then we saw the great eye explode and then we felt faint, like a headache then sickness and then nothin, we couldn't hear masters voice, then thats when Narku showed up, flailing his arms in panic, telling us the tarks had won."

Theodal was still in shock, here he was showing genuine interest in the plights of orcs, he had to keep asking questions. "How did each of you.. er…how do I put this? er…come into existence?"

After a brief moment of silence Shakgriig decided to answer. "Me, Craklash and Narku are orcs, we came from a mix of spawing pits and elf prisoners, and Tarburz is an Uruk."

Theodal's eyes lit up. "You wouldn't happen to be from Isengard would you?"

Tarburz thought for a moment. "Yeah I was sent my my master from Isengard and about fifty others as reinforcements in Cirith Ungol, as soon as we arrived we were stripped of our Isengard armour and given Mordor garb instead."

Theodal was truly intrigued now, he couldn't keep any more questions back. "I didn't know Saruman sent Uruks to mordor, I thought he sent all of them to Helms Deep."

Tarburz then glared at Theodal. "How did you know about the army?"

Theodal rolled his eyes. "I was one of the survivors at Helms Deep, we wiped out the bulk of the army and the ents finished them off."

Tarburz shuddered. "Don't like them tree things they tried to crush us for now reason, we didn't do nothing but they started to try and kill is, wasn't fair."

"How did you get away from them?"

Narku shuddered as well. "Lets just say we left mordor with eight orcs in total, after the little incident with the tree things we were left with five, now gone four."

"Its always difficult to take the loss of a friend." Theodal said quietly.

Narku snarled. "How would you know?"

"Because I lost many a dear friend, during the battle at Helms Deep the army that was sent were savage, I watched their bodies get hacked to pieces even though they were dead, it was a horrific sight."

Tarburz moved closer. "You should've seen how Uruks treated some of the weaker orcs in mordor, it was no different from tark men."

Theodal looked towards Narku. "Im sorry Narku, when I was a boy my father made it clear to me that orcs were just savage beasts that had no regard for each other as well as their foes, I see now that is clearly not true."

Narku snorted. "No it aint, most of the orcs were even from breeding pits, others were recruited from the grey mountains under fear of the master, we didn't have a choice, it was either stay and get butchered, or fight and get butchered."

Theodal kept looking for positives, he didn't want to anger the orc anymore. "But you were all good enough to survive, the sacking of mordor, and I'm sure if you can prove your intentions are no longer evil like you did to me, you might find peace yet."

Shakgriig laughed. "But for now we can just try to stay in one peace."

Craklash put his hand onto Theodals shoulder. "Are you afraid?"

Theodal thought about this question. "Er well yes and no, yes to when I woke tied up, no to the side of reason you all seem to possess."

Tarburz snorted. "Well it would be pointless to kill you, if those tarks come back, at least they wont try to kill us on the spot when they see you."

Theodal felt worried. "Im afraid that as long as Im here, I cannot promise you safety from other men."

Narku leant forward. "Nor can we promise you safety from Shakgriig, should you be daft enough to wander off."

This made Theodal curious. "Shakgriig, what exactly makes an orc tracker different from one of our trackers?"

"Well for starts, our sense of direction and smell are much better than that of a tark, we only need to pay attention to the ground until we fix a scent on our prey, then they cant get away."

Theodal gulped, he knew this orc was an expert, one of his friends had fallen victim to an orc tracker.

"Well Ive got one more question."

Narku shrugged. "Ask away tark."

"Where were all of you during the siege of Minas Tirith?"

Narku narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because I was part of the riders of rohan that ploughed into your forces, Im just curious about where all of you were during."

Narku still looked at Theodal with a suspicious look, but eventually obliged. "If you must know, I was part of the main force and the part of the survivors that ran for their lives, once the living dead showed up."

Craklash looked up in thought. "I was probably in mordor whipping some defiant orc to death."

Theodal cringed at that, then looked at Tarburz. "We were marching to mordor, we arrived just as the survivors came back."

Shakgriig just shrugged and said. "Was at Cirith Ungol at the time, before being sent to the gate."

(-)

Soon after the fire went out the orcs curled up to sleep as Theodal watched them drift off, Narku walked up to him and chained his left wrist which was in turn chained to a nearby tree, Narku stopped suddenly when he noticed Theodal look of reason.

"Its so you don't go wandering off at night, we aint losing you so easy."

Theodal just shrugged, everything they had done that seemed weird, Theodal just thought 'Its better than being tortured and eaten' so he just sighed and put his head on a log before drifting off to sleep.

**Hopefully this is going somewhere, but for now tell me what you think, read and review thanks :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the growing support, I know these orcs seems harmless but believe me it will get interesting pretty damn soon anyway lets go…..**

Theodal woke up with a long stretch and a yawn, he got up and started to walk away to answer the call of nature and only forgot he was chained to a tree before he was tripped by the chain pulling him back, as he fell to the ground quickly he just turned and groaned as he turned onto his back and tried to forget the pain, then he heard a familiar chuckle.

It was Tarburz, and he seemed quite amused by this rude awakening for Theodal, soon after quietly laughing to himself, he swiftly stood up and present the key to his shackles.

"Normally I don't do this, but lucky for you Ive gotta go too, so come on."

Tarburz turned the key and Theodals chains released his wrist and he flexed it a couple of times to make sure he hadn't broken anything, before getting up and following Tarburz a couple of feet from camp.

"Aren't you afraid that Ill try to escape?"

Tarburz just grunted. "If I were you, I wouldn't bother, were walking to West Emnet, then to the gap or Rohan."

Theodal was shocked. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Tarburz sighed before stopping and turning to Theodal. "Because as far as we know or care, you're with us, so wherever we go, you go, we head through West Emnet to the Gap of Rohan, we wont be safe until we have escape the lands of the horse men, they will kill us if they find us."

Theodal felt faint, one of a group of orcs, he had to know more. "Where are we going after that?"

Tarburz just grunted again and went off to the right to answer the call of nature, not even taking a look to see if Theodal had tried to run, Theodal immediately went to the left to tend to his own whims before they finished up, nodded to each other and walked back to the others.

Shakgriig woke with a panic. "The tark he's gone! And he's taken Tarburz!"

Narku then shot awake, incredibly irritated at the shrieking orc, he yelled. "They aint gone anywhere you stupid spawn of elf! Look they're over there, Although I would like to know what he is doing not chained to the tree?"

Tarburz simply replied. "He needed to go and so did I, so I let him loose so he wouldn't be whinin about it all day."

Narku just nodded. "Good because we've got a lot of ground to cover before we get to West Emnet, and then we set up camp."

Theodal was still curious. "After we leave Rohan, where do we go from there?"

Narku immediately snapped back. "That aint any of your business tark! At least not yet."

Theodal was confused, why weren't they telling him of their destination? He thought it would be best to keep quiet and just go with it.

Craklash started to wake after a swift kick from Tarburz. "What?! Whats with all the damn yelling? I was having a beautiful dream about a joint of mutton and a axe."

Craklash was stopped in his tracks by another small kick to the shins from Tarburz. "You're dreams concern me not, now get up were movin."

After everyone was up, the full journey had begun their main goal was to get out of the danger area the orcs called Rohan, and into the safe destination that apparently they needed Theodal for but for some reason wouldn't tell him.

The tall rocks and hills of Emnet were no match for the crooked orcs and the tough uruk but for Theodal, fatigue soon took it toll enough for him to nearly collapse from the heat, so Tarburz simply hoisted him up onto his back and carried him a couple of miles before setting him down, and giving him some water to drink.

Soon it was mid-afternoon and the whole party had settled down for rest before setting off again, they were satisfied with the good time they had made.

"Good run lads." Gasped Shakgriig. "Another couple of miles and we will be in West Emnet by nightfall."

Craklash had looked uneasy for the entire trip, so Theodal walked over and sat down by him. "Craklash, tell me what plagues you?"

Craklash looked reluctant to speak, before realising that he would take him seriously. "Well near here some of my fellow orcs from mordor met with a company of uruks from Isengard carrying two halflings."

Theodal easily recalled about Merry and Pippin being captured by uruks before…

"And during the night some riders attacked and wiped out all the orcs and uruks and burned the bodies."

"I do not understand why does that unsettle you?"

Theodal must have been seeing things he noticed a tear in the corner of Craklash's eye. "Because many of my close friends had gone to find the uruks and all were wiped out."

Theodal truly felt terrible, he couldn't even recall the last raid on Rohan made by orcs, but clearly Rohan had done enough to the orcs to consider it cruel. "Craklash I am truly sorry for your loss, but you have Narku and Shakgriig."

Craklash visibly seemed to look better. "I suppose I do, and I thought as much with the murderous thoughts banished from my mind, I could make other friends."

Theodal nearly fell over backwards was this orc considering asking Theodal for friendship, it was immoral, it was wrong and he didn't care, the men he thought his friends abandoned him at the mercy of orcs, at this point he could've used a decent friend so he cleared his head before looking back to Craklash.

"You can talk to me about anything you want, and I promise to keep it to myself."

The orc started to look happy. "Really? You'll listen?"

Theodal cracked a small smile. "What else could a friend be for?"

The orc then bore another look of happiness before he held out a clawed hand to shake his, after a couple of reluctant thoughts he held out his hand and shook hands with orc, something he wouldn't have even given a second thought before all of these odd events took place, Theodal then decided to get to know his new orc friend.

"So tell me Craklash, does your name mean anything?"

Craklash thought for a second. "It means The Whip, it was to mark my job among the orcs as a taskmaster, If any orcs broke the rules or any prisoner acted out, I was given orders to show them my whip, however after master was defeated I left my whip at cirith unroll."

Theodal soon became too interested to care about Craklash's former job as a taskmaster and quickly shot out another question. "Why did you leave your whip?"

Craklash just shrugged. "I think because it bought back too many bad memories from when I was given the horrible job of whip to kill."

Theodal noticed how visibly sick Craklash was looking. "What was that?"

"It was where I had to whip and orc or prisoner until they stopped moving, it was horrible, the screaming, the blood and then nothin just horrible, horrible silence, I couldn't refuse to do it, otherwise I would have to answer to master and according to some of the orc captains that was a fate worse then death."

Theodal had heard plenty about Sauron and imagined that facing him in person would be terrifying even though he was long gone, it was clear he had left his mark of corruption on these orcs, he had no idea that these orcs had choices and lives before took them away, Theodal had realised that the orcs were just unlucky enough to be taken by the dark powers, it could have happened to others, and the wildmen and haradrim that followed the dark lord were granted amnesty when orcs were sliced to pieces just for being deformed and ugly, it wasn't fair so Theodal looked towards Craklash, this orc had no choice, whip or die, he had a life before, and it was taken away, it was the same with Narku, Tarburz and Shakgriig, they were misunderstood and manipulated, some beyond repair, but Theodal knew he could turn these orcs into creatures of a friendly demeanour.

"It was no use to tell the captains of the traitor men, they just spat and called us filthy, decrepit orcs."

Theodal started to feel tears form as he put his hand on Craklash's shoulder and simply said. "I see no orc."

Craklash's face dropped. "W..What?"

Theodal spoke softly. "I see no orc, just a creature of this earth looking for a friend."

Craklash felt more tears and soon he broke down crying and Theodal though it best to just put his green robe over his shoulders and hug him.

"Im here Craklash, you're safe."

**There we go some talk time between them, I hope it went well, so read, review tell me what you think, any advice or tips or always welcome and the next chapter will be up soon :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Lets keep this going and hopefully this story is getting a little bit more interesting with each chapter but as well as write to please, I write to have fun too so lets see what we can do….**

The next day after Theodal and Craklash basically just gave their trust and became friends, the journey from West Emnet to the gap of Rohan seemed easier because during the long walk he had someone to talk to, considering it was an orc, he didn't really care, since being taken by the orcs he needed to talk, it was a habit for him while at Edoras he liked knowing what went on while he went on with his day, while hearing about an orcs day sounded to him like a couple of raids and burning buildings surprisingly every single one of these orcs had their own story to tell of how orcs lived before Sauron stepped in and rocked the boat.

"Really? I would never have thought that."

Shakgriig laughed at Theodal's reaction. "Not many other orcs can do that, its pretty weird is it not?"

"It is, I mean did he really use the whole sword?"

"Right down to the sharp edge."

Theodal and Shakgriig couldn't stop laughing, Shakgriig had just regarded him with a tale of how Craklash lost a bet and had to run through the camp with a sword stuffed down the front of his tunic, Theodal never usually found drunken bets and dares to be funny, but this one really made him laugh.

"Go on then, tell me of the stupidest thing you've ever done drunk." Ushered Shakgriig, as they climbed over more rocks and hills.

"Well, once at my brothers wedding, I drank so much I woke up the next morning to find that I had removed my tunic and hoisted it up onto the village flagpole.

Theodal had never heard many orcs laugh, but shakgriigs definitely had an orcish way of laughing including a lot of grunting and squeaking.

"The king mustve not liked that."

"He still gives me the troubled look whenever he see's me."

Throughout the rest of the day, Theodal and Shakgriig exchanged more stories until they had reached the gap of rohan, Narku was impressed, and turned to them.

"Well done lads, soon enough we will be out of here and into safer lands."

All the orcs cheered, Theodal just gave a polite nod, while everyone collapsed from excessive walking, Narku went and sat down next to Theodal.

"How you holdin up?"

Theodal turned his head and shagged. "Im fine, Im used to long walks, but usually they went back to Edoras, at least Im in good company."

Narku snorted. "Aye, Ive seen how close you've been getting with the lads, Craklash thinks you're a riot."

Theodal let out a short laugh before stretching his arms out. "Am I ok to go out into the forest for a second."

Narku just nodded, before turning to Shakgriig. "Shakgriig! Go with Theodal, bring two swords."

Theodal's eyes widened. "Swords? Why Swords?"

Narku leaned forward. "Wildmen, just in case."

(-)

Theodal and Shakgriig walked far away from the camp to be at peace but near enough they could hear them if they shouted, which was good considering where they were.

"Shakgriig, why are we being more cautious here than in West Emnet?"

"Because this is where most of the wildmen fled after the sacking of Isengard, the reason West Emnet was safe was because of how near it was to Fangorn, every wildman traitor fears the nets more than the orcs, so we knew we were safe but we cant be too careful, the orcs may have died down in terms of anger, malice and hatred, but the wildmen didn't get the same voices the orcs did they just went along with Saruman for the raids and the pillages, some still have that fresh in their minds and have been known to attack anything that looks like they might have something of value, so we need to be wary, so keep an eye out and have your sword ready."

Theodal swiftly nodded, before looking around, hopefully no one will attack, but luck was very hard to gain in moments of dire need, he didn't even count the defeat of Sauron as lucky, just something that he had coming since messing with everyone.

Theodals thoughts were stopped as a fist shot from behind and tree and smash Shakgriig in the side of his cheek and sent him falling to the ground, Theodal drew his sword shocked as he saw a very angry looking wildman of dunland, step out with a hammer, fortunately for Shakgriig before the assailant could harm him, Theodal had driven his sword into the wildmans gut, as Theodal pulled his sword out, there was a small gurgle and a large clattering sound as the wildman fell over dead, Theodal went to Shakgriig and pulled him up quickly.

"Are you unhurt?"

Shakgriig looked over at the deceased man. "I'm fine, but theres more of em, I can smell em a mile off."

"Which direction?"

"East, right where are camp is."

Theodals eyes widened. "We need to help them, they could be in serious danger."

Shakgriig then kicked the already dead wildman in the crotch before drawing his sword. "Well lets go kill some wildman."

(-)

Narku didnt have time to wonder where the other two had gone off to, him , Tarburz and Craklash had bigger problems, mainly that five angry wildmen had just shown up and decided that it was funny to try and kill them, there were seven when they showed up but Narku had sliced one in half while Tarburz used his strength to smash one into a tree, probably killing him, but they had to fight or die as the five men charged.

Craklash used his small stature and speed to his advantage as he dodged a lunge from the largest man and drove a small dagger into his right thigh, and as he fell driving the other into his chest, Craklash kept an eye open while he pulled both daggers out of him and went to help Narku.

Tarburz didn't have too many problems, he just swung his hammer around until he cracked the wildman on the left in the skull sending him flying into a rock, he stood there and sneered and the other man didn't take that as a warning and charged him anyway, Tarburz quickly shot out a hand and picked up the man by his neck, tightening his grip and turning to Craklash.

"Come and help me finish him off!"

Craklash just threw one of his daggers that stuck into the mans chest and stayed there as the man stopped struggling and crumpled to the ground once Tarburz let go, he turned to see Narku slice another one of the men meeting his end by Narku's sword, they had to hold off celebrating as they heard rustling from the bushes nearby.

It was Theodal and Shakgriig, much to the others delight.

"Wildmen! They attacked me and Theodal saved me from meeting my end, they'll be more if we don't…"

"Shakgriig calm down, we've already skewered all of them." Eased Narku. "But did you say that he saved you?"

"Yeah the wildman would've speared me but Theodal speared him first and we made our way back to see if you were in trouble too."

Tarburz frowned. "Well we were, but we killed em."

Theodal surveyed all the mangled, sliced up corpse's of the wildmen. "I think we can see that, but were still not safe."

Craklash nodded in agreement. "Theodal's right there could be more of them, we have to advance a couple of miles and wait for sun."

Narku just nodded. "Then lets not tarry, five wildmen we could all butcher with no problem at all, but usually five are followed by at least twenty and I know we would be overwhelmed, so we will carry on further through the gap until we reach Dunland, but we must stay near to the mountains and get to Eregion."

Everyone nodded and as they started to walk then Narku turned his head. "And if we meet anymore wildmen let Tarburz sort them out if there is just one or two."

Tarburz chuckled lightly, then Shakgriig walked up to Theodal and patted him on the back.

"Thanks Theodal, for tark you aint that bad."

**There we go sword fights, wildmen and more friendship with orcs so tell me what you think, read and review thanks :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Im glad that everyone like this story so much, but there is a problem with a certain user that wastes him time writing OCCUP repeatedly, now hopefully this joker will be gone or I will file another complaint, the real authors out there don't deserve morons like them ruining this site, anyway enough ranting enjoy my next chapter….**

Theodal and the orcs had been running none stop for what seemed like hours, and soon enough they had passed out of the gap of Rohan and had entered the treacherous territory of Dunland, they had recently fought off a small band of them, so on Narku's orders they all stayed close to the mountains.

As they stopped running and continued at walking speed, Theodal moved quickly up to Shakgriig. "Tell me, why do we walk so close to the mountains what if we run into orcs….."

Theodal immediately cut his sentence short when he noticed Shakgriig's face. "We are orcs, we need not fear other orcs, besides the wildmen inhabitants of Dunland dare not go near the mountains, more than a few of us have snatched any unfortunate enough to venture too close to the mountains.

Theodal gulped and fought he saw a goblin head, which turned out to be a rather pointy rock, still he stayed close to Shakgriig and Tarburz, who just reassured him that he was safe with them so long as he didn't wander off, then as they scaled another rocky outcrop, Tarburz felt Theodal clap him on the back.

"Tarburz what was all of that during the fight, you displayed strength even our strongest barefist fighter wouldn't possess, you very near crushed them."

Tarburz smiled smugly. "I am fighting uruk-hai, we were bred for strength, you should've seen beserkers, twice our size and absolutely insane."

Theodal mulled over a lucky escape during the battle of the hornburg where an uruk beserker almost split him in half before the mighty dwarf Gimli stepped in and ended the uruk with a swing of his large axe. "I have met a beserker, well by met I mean he tried to rip me in half."

Tarburz chuckled. "Berserkers were just the ones who were too stupid to fend for themselves they bought us time to gain ground on our enemies while they swung themselves around flailing their weapons, thats just how expendable we all were to our master, he didn't give a damn, who came back or died so long as he could count another victory, he would spare us his anger."

Theodal nodded. "It was a real pleasure to see Saruman's life get taken away in the end."

Tarburz turned to Theodal. "How did he die?"

Theodal decided to use one word. "Wormtongue."

"Oh him the snivelling, black weakling, I could've eaten him for breakfast."

Theodal smirked. "Theoden almost did eat him for breakfast."

Tarburz laughed. "For a tark, you certainly seem less arrogant that other whiteskins, most of them we took prisoner kept yelling how many of my kind they had killed."

Theodal smiled. "You think the orcs and uruks we held captive didn't say the exact same thing."

(-)

Soon it was evening and Narku decided it would be wise to keep a watch posted, so for the first hour him and Craklash stood watch while Theodal, Shakgriig and Tarburz sat around the fire.

"How far do you reckon we are from Eregion?"

Tarburz shrugged. "I think Narku said it would be another half say before we reach the border, all I do know is that we aren't safe until we reach our final destination."

Theodal then put his flagon down and whispered impatiently. "Ok! What is our final destination? And why will none of you tell me? Is it an orc camp? I don't mind just don't keep things from me!"

Shakgriig looked over to Tarburz, and they both leaned in. "Ok we will tell you, but please promise us you will not laugh, we will lose much honour in travelling there as it is, Narku didn't tell you because he felt ashamed."

Theodal then grew with anticipation. "Where? Where are we going off to?"

Shakgriig leaned forward. "We are making for Imladris."

Theodal's mouth dropped open. "Imladris! You mean Rivendell?"

Tarburz and Shakgriig nodded in shame. "I though orcs hated elves."

Tarburz said quietly. "Our hatred of them went away the moment master was killed."

Theodal was still shocked at this revelation. "Why do we travel there then?"

Theodal jumped when he felt Craklash and Narku sit down next to him, Narku pointed towards Shakgriig. "You and I will talk later about staying your tongue better." Shakgriig then sank down a little before Narku turned to Theodal.

"We travel to Imladris for respite, we hope that we can be granted forgiveness by the elves for what we have all done."

Theodal then leaned in. "Thats nothing to be ashamed of, you have learned right from wrong and now are taking the correct way out of more trouble."

Craklash nodded. "Aye plus we just want peace, nowadays we are attacked just for being orcs, and that aint fair, we hope that the elves will see light in us yet."

Theodal then thought to himself. "Am I needed for this?"

They all nodded at this and Narku leant back in. "You will be the first to walk into imladris and inform them about who you travel with, because it we just walk towards the gates of rivendell, chances are we will be stuck with arrows in seconds, but if they are told before hand, we could have a chance to talk with the elves."

Theodal's eyes lit up. "Thats not a bad idea."

Narku then straightened up slightly. "Also in the time you've been with us, we've all come to think of you as… well… one of our group, you've saved Shakgriigs life, defended us when you could've made a run for it, and put a smile on Craklash's face finally, if you help us, we will be in your debt."

Theodal could've sworn he just heard an orc captain accept a human as one of them, he smiled. "It would be an honour to accompany you to Rivendell friend."

And with that they all filled up their flagons with ale and quietly cheered to their new comrade.

"However." Continued Narku. "In order to properly be part of our clan, you must have a mark on your ankle."

Theodal looked confused. "What mark is this?"

He then looked at Narku and the others pull up their left leg on their breeches and show a mark of a flaming shield. "Will it hurt?"

Narku smirked. "Definitely, but this will be more difficult considering we cant make any loud noises." Theodals face dropped as Narku took out a small brand and started heating it up over the fire.

Theodal decided to suck it up, he had been through worse pain before, worse than any hot iron could give, so he reluctantly rolled up his left leg and showed his ankle.

Soon the iron was red hot and Narku slowly removed the brand. "Theodal of Rohan, do you promise to defend as you have done already and be forever one of our brothers?"

Theodal gulped. "Yes I do."

With these words Tarburz gave him a piece of cloth that he used to bite down on, as the brand was placed onto his ankle, Theodal felt the pain growing more intense as he bit down on to the cloth hard enough for his own teeth to shatter, he squirmed and fought the urge to scream, and luckily as quickly as it had begun the ceremonial branding was finished and Theodal looked at the flaming shield brand mark freshly burned into his ankle.

Narku then clasped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the clan, Theodal."

Theodal was then met with pats on his shoulders and remarks about how well he took the pain.

Craklash then smirked. "He would've been my friend brand or not…"

Then they laughed again as they got ready for another round of ale to surpass Theodal's new brotherhood of orcs, Theodal chuckled to himself, his brother would've throttled him if he saw any of that…

**There we go the next chapter Theodal's new group of mates, lets see what happens next and read, review and advice and criticisms are always welcome and until the next time :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all the view and reviews I really appreciate it and soon we will be in the new year where i will still update anyway lets continue….**

Theodal woke quickly and winced with pain, his ankle was burning in pain and it was very nearly difficult to ignore, he then remembered he had been branded the night before to become part of the orcs, he felt a strange combination of pride and pain as he rose to his feet and limped quickly over to where Narku and Tarburz were chatting away, they smiled as they noticed Theodal's obvious pain.

"Don't worry about that, the pain will leave ya eventually." Tarburz laughed as he leaned over to Narku. "Remember when we branded Craklash?"

The orc and uruk laughed. "Yeah I do, bloody wuss wouldn't stop whining about it, you took it like an orc, Im proud."

Theodal just shrugged, at least he was good at something in this group, he sat down on a nearby log as he got out a small vial of healing ointment and tended to the burning.

(-)

Soon the group were back on their feet making good time, well even with Theodals burning ankle, which he knew wouldn't slow him down, he was tough and resilient despite branding being one of the single most painful experiences of his life, he thought to himself that they could've done worse.

The lands of Dunland were soon left behind as they entered the wild territory of Eregion, Narku announced that although they were in safer territory they were safe just yet, Theodal was worried, he remembered the old tale of Bilbo Baggins and that little scrape with the trolls, he was in the trollshaws where it happened, and he wondered if there were any more trolls, lumbering about the place hiding from the sun.

After another four hours of walking Theodal recognised the precise area and rushed ahead, he kept a quick pace until he noticed a clearing with the three familiar forms of the unfortunate trolls, Theodal was amused when Narku drew his sword in worry.

"Worry not, Narku, they are frozen in place, made dormant by the sun."

Narku just growled and put his sword away as he signalled the others, as they entered the clearing they looked at the three trolls and shuddered, yes maybe these trolls couldn't attack them, but they were scary to be around, but they had no choice but to make camp.

"These things aint half scary." Tarburz shuddered as he looked at the icy expression of one of the trolls, Theodal smirked again, the great uruk Tarburz afraid of a troll that couldn't attack him, now he had seen everything.

"Tarburz, you Narku and the others and quite safe, look." With that Theodal picked up a rock and threw it at one of the trolls, every orc froze and then returned to calm, when frozen troll did nothing. "See he did nothing."

Craklash just shrugged as he tore into his mutton, Theodal looked across the campfire and tried to remember what the hole looked like that these trolls had buried their treasure in, he remembered that it wasn't more than a short walk from their camp, so he quickly stood up and winced again at the slight pain in his ankle, it was lessening with each hour, but it wouldn't heal just yet.

"Shakgriig, could we just scout ahead a couple of yard, theres something I must do."

Shakgriig nodded as he took a swig of ale and a bite of mutton before standing up and following Theodal into the woods.

"Ere whats this about?"

Theodal leaned in. "I have reason to believe that these frozen trolls had a small hole nearby where they kept their plunder and treasure."

Shakgriig just grunted. "You don't believe all those stupid tales do you?"

Theodal rolled his eyes. "The only reason orcs and goblins hate those tales is because of their loss at the battle of five armies."

Shakgriig stood still, then showed his teeth before scoffing. "Not true."

Theodal just nodded as he began to walk in the supposed direction of the hole, after at least five minutes of walking, Theodal and Shakgriig found a small hole in the side of the cliff, that seemed a likely place for troll treasure.

"I'll go in first I'll give a signal if all is safe."

Shakgriig nodded as Theodal quickly went into the small cave and shouted. "All is clear, come on in, you wont believe what I have found."

Shakgriig sighed as he ducked into the cave and saw before him, a sight that his orc eyes could not apprehend, this cave was lined with treasure, golden coins, swords, daggers and chalices, it was only a small cave, maybe big enough for one troll, but it was full of enough gold to buy helms deep and still have enough for golden plated gate.

Theodal stood shocked. "So much treasure…." He then looked over at Shakgriig who appeared to be drooling at the vast supply of gold. "Shakgriig are you…" Before he could finish the orc had rushed forward and was digging through all of the gold.

"Quick Theodal! Get one of the sacks and get as much as we can carry."

"While I do that, take a look for any weapons of value."

Shakriig only managed to mutter something that sounded like "Yuh" as he vigourously dug through the piles of gold.

(-)

Narku, Tarburz and Craklash gave very puzzled looks as Theodal and Shakgriig returned with four sacks that were full to the brim, they noted the smug looks of their faces as they dropped the sacks in front of them.

Narku almost fell over as he saw gold coins and jewels spill from the top of the bags, Tarburz simply drooled at the mass of gold and Craklash just fell back against a tree.

Narku was too shocked for words. "Where did you find this?!"

"One of the old troll holes that belonged to these." Shakgriig said as he pointed out the frozen trolls.

Suddenly Narku began to look around worriedly. "If we are keeping this treasure then we must be swift and move away, if we happen to get caught with this, chances are no one will care where we got it, they think that they have a slight chance of taking it."

Everyone nodded as Tarburz lugged two of the sacks over his shoulders and Craklash picked up one, Narku picked up the final bag as Shakgriig used the fire to light a torch before he doused the fire with water.

"Theodal, Shakgriig, as reward for your find, we shall carry the sacks until we next make camp."

Theodal and Shakgriig shared a secret glance of victory, the bags weren't too heavy but they certainly made walking a lot less easy.

(-)

Eventually after some very quick paced walking the group found themselves only another day from Rivendell, although they were all worried about the elves, Narku made it clear why he would rather be at the mercy of elves rather than orcs, Theodal shuddered at the details, he didn't know that there were other orcs thats still spilled blood in the name of the late Sauron, although they were the truly loyal orcs, the others like Narku were just in it for the job satisfaction.

"You know Narku, we can also bargain with the elves with our gold."

Narku nodded in agreement. "Thats not a bad idea, then they would have more reason to fill us with arrows because they could have our gold without having to talk!" Nakru clasped Theodal on the side of the head. "We keep the gold hidden until we can trust them!"

Narku then stood up. "If these elves think we are going to give them any of our gold then they can go…."

Thankfully the sound of thunder cancelled out Narku's last couple of words, then Theodal noticed Tarburz clutching his bag of gold as if it was his child, Theodal smirked before he turned back to Narku. "If we can bargain then we could get finer items for the gold."

Narku grunted. "Maybe, but we should still keep it hidden, just in case."

Theodal nodded, Narku's notion made sense, but he didn't need to clasp him on the back of the head, his idea wasn't that bad, he turned to Craklash who was still worried.

"Tell me, what troubles you?"

Craklash just grunted. "I don't want to beg mercy from the elves, its humiliating."

"No one will be doing any grovelling or begging as far as they are concerned they wont harm a human, so I will convince them to accept you, so you wont have to beg."

Craklash seemed better. "You think you can convince them?"

"Well we have wealth on our side."

Narku then started to bark on about the elves again. "Those elves will not be getting any of our loot and if they try I will take my sword and shove…"

Another thunderclap drowned out Narku's less than colourful words as Theodal looked up, the weather was working in his favour, all he could do now was hope that the gold would work in his favour…..

**There we go something new and they are nearly to rivendell, so read, review tell me what you think and remember advice is welcome :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Im glad everyone likes the format of this story and this is the Rivendell chapter so lets see how the orcs and man get on…**

Theodal's heart started to pound in his chest as they approached Rivendell, Theodal was put on point just in case and Tarburz was put at the back, because according to Shakgriig he was the scariest looking one of the group, and for some reason Craklash kept checking the gold with the occasional dead arm from Narku for being too nosey.

As they neared the gates of Rivendell, Theodal heard a twig snap from the left, the group stopped quickly before Narku and Tarburz were met with the edges of cocked arrows, Craklash and Shakgriig stopped quickly as the same happened to them, and Theodal turned around quickly to be met with another cocked arrow of an elven archer and he didn't look at all pleased, the elves held them where they stood until a rather regal looking elven captain walked from the gates and surveyed what stood before him, before massaging his temples.

"So allow me to observe, my men have just caught site of what looked like a man of rohan, three orcs of Mordor and an Uruk of Isengard, and there I sat thinking it some kind of joke and yet here we are." Then the captain turned to Theodal. "Explain yourselves, usually if orcs have a man with them he is usually a prisoner, but you walk with them willingly, this confuses me so tell me why, lest I spear you all."

Theodal spent the next ten minutes explaining his journey with the orcs, as Narku grew impatient he really couldn't have piece of mind with an elven blade pointed at him, the archers had lowered their bows and drawn their swords due to weary arms while the story took place, once Theodal had finished the captain just smirked in distrust.

"Well that does explain the gold, but it will take time for me to believe that these beasts have lost their motivational 'kill all in your path' oath, Narku then started to clench his fists.

"We haven't killed since you pointy eared…." Narku hadn't time to finish his sentence before the sound of an elven horn blocked out his words, Theodal looked into the sky, this had stopped becoming coincidence, but he forgot all about that as soon as the elven captain began to speak.

"You may enter our halls but your so called friends must be under constant guard, Lord Elrond will speak with them, but I warn you do not provoke our guard or act in any sort of negative manner or we will fill you with arrows." The captain walked up to Narku and leaned forward. "Understand Orc?"

Narku just nodded as they were all ushered past the gates and into the realm of Imladris, Narku became less angry although the very thought of surrendering still made him sick.

Soon enough Theodal and the orcs walked through the main courtyard, every stare from every elf just made Shakgriig snarl at them, prompting them to draw their weapon, before a wave of the captains hand made them stand to, Shakgriig took advantage of this momentary protection to make faces at the elves, this was cut short by Narku slapping him over the back of the head.

(-)

Once the orcs were in Elrond's chamber, Narku nodded to everyone else including Theodal to get their loot ready to bargain with them should the need arise. The captain then stood forward and bowed.

"My lord I have brought them forth for you judgement."

"You may leave us, Melendil." The captain looked worried.

"But lord they are orcs we have no idea or what they could…"

"I wish to be alone with them, so If you do not mind?"

The captain said nothing else as he left the room, Elrond then looked upon Theodal and the orcs, with great interest. "This is indeed an odd group that stands before me, I didn't believe my messenger when he told of a man of rohan who walked with the orcs willingly, However I sense that you are closer to them than any of my guards speculated.

"How do you know of…."

"Your mark, I can sense your feeling of purpose within this group and the use of a hot iron brand for initiation."

Theodal wondered if the limping gave it away, the pain had gone away now, but he still made it look obvious. "I am indeed a part of their group, I saved one of theirs and seen the light in them."

Elrond then raised an eyebrow. "I was not aware that any orcs harboured feelings other than anger, but I can sense no malice or hatred in any of you, this concerns me, and puts my mind at ease."

Narku then walked forward. "We also have come across gold if you were to happen to.."

Elrond then held up his hand. "I nor anyone here in Imladris have any need for riches, we are content with our lifestyles and have no need for gold, so you can keep it to yourselves and don't dare think you could bribe me again."

Narku then threw the bag in the corner and gave a sigh of relief, then Elrond moved to the others. "Besides it would be wrong of my to take from you treasure you had found yourselves and I can tell how eager you are not to be parted from it."

Theodal just smirked as he saw the look on Narku's face. "Forgive them Lord Elrond, they are still getting used to the positive feelings."

"And my captain told me your story, are you quite certain that Sauron had that strong of an influence on the orcs?"

Theodal just shrugged. "If you do not believe me you should ask them yourself."

Elrond nodded as he walked over to Shakgriig. "Explain to me what Sauron did to you."

Shakgriig grew nervous as he stammered. "Sauron didnt make all orcs, there were some he tricked into service and forced us to fight for him, most of us lived happy lives until Sauron made us attack and destroy, we couldn't do anything about it, he used his power to cast a voice inside us to make us angry and evil, we had no control, when Sauron died so did his power on all of us."

Elrond sat back down in his chair as he went over everything. "I cannot apprehend this, I knew not the full reach of Saurons grasp and now I am uncertain of the nature of his minions." Elrond then stood back up and pointed at Shakgriig. "Are you confessing your sorrow for you actions?"

Shakgriig nodded and looked to the ground. "Yeah I am, we all are, we just want to be left alone, to live our lives without being attacked for no reason."

Elrond asked the same question to Craklash, Narku and Tarburz and they all gave the same reply, Elrond walked over to Theodal finally. "Is it respite your friends seek?"

Theodal nodded. "Its all they ever wanted, I couldn't believe it when I heard it."

Elrond then nodded. "It may take some time for the lines between orc and elf to be fully healed, but Im confident that If you behave yourselves and make your peace then there may be a place for you here."

The orcs eyes lit up with cheer, Narku then walked up to Elrond and extended his hand. "Er Thanks… My…Lord."

Elrond smiled and accepted his greeting, Theodal couldn't believe his eyes Lord Elrond shaking hands with an orc captain, Theodal then remembered the captain. "But what of the captain? Had it no been for me, they would have just filled the orcs with arrows and left them."

"I know it is a grim thought, but if we are to learn anything from our new guests, is that we must form a trust so that if we happen to cross the paths of more groups, we can talk of peace between races."

Theodal nodded as he looked to Narku who nodded too. "But what of our gold? What use will it be here?"

Elrond smiled and walked towards Narku. "Im sure there are plenty of goods Imladris can offer that would be to your liking."

"Oh yeah? Where we gonna sleep?" Craklash crossed his fingers, although he held little hope of getting a decent place to sleep, being an orc in elf land.

"I will ask the stewards to prepare some rooms for you all orc or not." Tarburz couldn't believe his ears, then he was confused.

"Whats a bed?"

Elrond smirked. "Clearly there are things the elves must teach you all first if we are to live as one, but for no you must all be hungry."

Theodal nodded today had been a day he wont soon forget but he had forgotten his hunger so he and the orcs nodded as they were escorted to dinner….

**I would expect Elrond to be more understanding, so I hope this goes down well so read review tell me what you think :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for the growing support and sorry for taking so long, family troubles and so on, however now I've got time lets see how they are all getting on…..**

Theodal was relieved when the elves had taken him to the private bathing springs, he needed a nice relaxing wash after everything he had been through, he also was curious about how Narku and the others were faring with the elves assisting them as he lowered himself into the hot water and sighed in relaxation, he hadn't felt a comfort like this although he slightly cringed as the hot water lapped around his branded ankle, Theodal then decided to take another good look at the branded mark he leant over to look at his ankle and now the wound had healed it was clear and matched the markings on the others ankles, for a moment Theodal felt pride as he let the relaxing vapours of the spring water lull him into a nap.

(-)

Bathing wasn't something Narku was used to, in Mordor the closest element to liquid was lava, which you were thrown into if you kept on about washing, this sensation of the water made Narku shudder as he noticed the elves had flinched as he shuddered slightly, Narku just rolled his eyes as he lowered himself down into the water and started to scrub himself, he then noticed Tarburz and Shakgriig getting into the water, every move they made earning a flinch from the elves assisting them, Narku smirked, as they began to relax.

"Beats what they had in Mordor, how you holding up Craklash?" Narku hadn't noticed that the orc next to him had been wallowing in the water for a couple of minutes, Craklash however just sighed contently as he relaxed against the spring.

Narku then turned to Tarburz. "I never thought the elves would even let us insides, let alone in their water."

Tarburz smirked. "Its weird, I keep feeling like some archers are gonna spear us at some point."

"That wont happen, Theodal would kill them."

Tarburz started to relax. "Yeah he would, wouldn't he."

Narku nodded his head, Shakgriig then called from the other side of the spring. "You think he's in pain from having hot water around his brand?"

Narku laughed. "Without a doubt."

(-)

Once everyone was dried off and clothed, Theodal and the orcs walked down to the dining area, Theodal kept noticing that they kept tugging at their robes and frowning.

"This aint right, this is too comfortable for an orc."

Theodal rolled his eyes as he took his place next to Elrond, Shakgriig sat down between two elven women, who seemed less than happy to see him, Tarburz and Craklash sat down besides Glorfindel, and Narku sat down besides Erestor, after a minute of silence Elrond stood up and announced.

"Rivendell welcomes our new guests and may I say to them, eat and drink as much as you like, our food is your food."

This comment from Elrond was met from a quiet scoff from Glorfindel, luckily for him Narku didn't notice, after Elrond spoke seven elven chefs started to place silver dishes lined with fine food in front of them, all the elves noticed the hungry looks in the orcs eyes.

Shakgriig then licked his lips and move his hand forward to get an apple, as he moved his hand the elf woman to his left flinched, Sharkgriig stopped and gave her a puzzled look, the moved his right hand and got a flinch from the woman on his right, the orc then decided to have a little fun and move his hand quickly to his fork, the woman flinched again, and Shakgriig would've been at it all evening had Narku not noticed and thrown a roll of bread at him.

"Pack it in Shakgriig, they cant help it if they're scared."

The woman then looked annoyed. "I will have you know I was not scared." This comment was displaced as Shakgriig coughed and she flinched again.

Narku smirked, this was like a gift from the heavens, a group of frightened elves, that are under orders not to kill them, he felt right at home, of course without the torture and ash.

Theodal had already tucked in as all of the commotion was halted, he didn't care what he was eating as long as it want venison and beef, he was eating as much as a hobbit, the elves were amazed at how well this man of Rohan was eating and they were equally amazed at the eating rates of the orcs, Craklash had just thrown his head down on the plate and was eating nosily, Tarburz had taken all of food off his plate and Glorfindel felt ill as he notched a bite mark in the plate, Shakrgiig had taken a liking to the elven women and was moving around deliberately to scare them, Elrond just shrugged it off when Erestor leaned towards him,

"See how they eat? I am certain that we are next."

Elrond took a sip of wine. "I see not evil in them, even if they are teasing some of the less brave elves here, but if they had wanted to kill us, they would've shown up with an army, not four of them and a rohan friend."

Erestor leaned in and whispered. "Is this man not their prisoner?"

"No he is not, he bears the clan brand of the orc, he claims the brand was given willingly."

Erestor sneered as he leant back, it will take more than just a man of rohan to convince him that these orcs weren't evil, and from what he knew Glorfindel seemed to agree.

(-)

Erestor sat down in his quarters with his head in his hands, he could not believe what he senses, with every orc he had fought and killed he had sensed undying evil and loyalty to the dark lord, but these orcs, he sensed good intentions and a yearn for forgiveness, he couldn't give in to this, orcs were evil, they had to be, these ones made no exception, they were certain to slit their throats while they slept.

_"Good Erestor, Advisor or Elrond, do not be clouded by rage and hatred from years gone by, I see no evil in these creatures, nor should you….."_

Erestor shook his head as he heard Galadiel speak to him, even the lady of lothlorien, see's the supposed good in these orcs.

"But lady they have committed acts of unspeakable evil upon our kind."

_"And now they seek respite now that the dark lord cannot harm them, can you not see their will to destroy is gone, they do not wish to fight, they wish to make peace and seek friends among the free peoples."_

Erestor began to see sense, the good lady had never steered anyone wrong before, so why would now be any different? He could think straight he needed some air.

(-)

Erestor walked quickly to the gardens of Imladris, he needed time to relax, he walked to a stone bench overlooking the beauty of his home, only to realise that he wasn't alone.

He turned his head and found Tarburz sitting there, Erestor's eyes widened and he felt compelled to move away quickly, however Tarburz held up his hand.

"I aint gonna hurt you, elf, sit down."

Erestor slowly sat back down but kept his distance, he turned his head to notice Tarburz smiling and looking out over the landscape of Rivendell.

"This place is pretty."

Erestor nodded then felt a need to ask something. "What business do you have with the human?"

"Theodal? He is our friend and clan mate."

"Did he start out that way?"

Tarburz shook his head. "No, he started out being knocked out after they attacked, we couldn't risk being attacked again so we took him for bargaining."

The remainder of the conversation was Tarburz regaling Erestor with all the events following their departure from Rohan, by the time Tarburz had finished, Erestor was in shock.

"Lady Galadriel was right."

Tarburz raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Erestor decided his decision. "I am sorry, for my behaviour at dinner, I didn't know If I could trust you."

Tarburz grunted. "Its fine, we weren't sure if we trusted you lot either, there were always archers following us around in case we do anything bad."

"From what Elrond has been saying, I don't know if the archers will even be needed."

Tarburz then lost track as he remembered his manners. "My name is Tarburz, an uruk of Mordor." He shot out his hand.

Erestor smirked at how this orc knew manners like a human, so he happily shook his hand. "Erestor, advisor of Elrond."

"So what do you do?"

"I well…. advise Elrond on the best course of action regarding battle and every day events."

Tarburz laughed. "Sounds boring."

Erestor decided to let that comment fly past. "Not at all, I think I will have to show you how interesting it can be, but for now I tire, have you been shown to your quarters yet?"

"No, do I not sleep on the floor?"

Erestor laughed. "You do not you get to sleep on a bed."

Tarburz then looked confused again. "No one had told me what a bed is yet"

Erestor shook his head and smiled, this truly had been a day he will not forget…..

**There we go, I hope this chapter is good for everyone who wanted to know about the orcs, anyway Ive other stories to update so bye and read and review :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**This sadly will be the last chapter for this story, However I am considering writing a follow up story on Theodal and the orcs, let me know what you would all think of it….**

Narku was almost in tears at the amount of comfort he had, a good nights sleep was something he had forgotten about since being made to join Sauron, he felt like royalty as got out of the soft silk elven bed, he wasn't much for elves but Narku was in heaven with the elf beds it was like sleeping on a cloud wrapped in another cloud.

Narku then stretched out as he stood up, since the fighting had stopped he hadn't slouched as much and his back was starting to straighten out he almost stood as tall as Tarburz, that was a wonder, did the others sleep as well as he did?

(-)

Theodal had was the last to join the orcs and elves for breakfast as he sat down and helped himself to what was on offer, he decided on some strawberries and toast, he looked around the table and thought he was dreaming Narku was conversing with Lord Elrond, Tarburz was sharing funny stories with Erestor and Shakgriig was making funny faces at the elf children and making them laugh, Theodal looked up at the sun and smiled, orcs were good company when they weren't trying to skin you.

"May I have everyones attention." Elrond called across the table as he stood up slowly. "It truly has been a joyous time when I sit here and see orc and elf laughing and feasting as if they are of kin."

Craklash then raised a finger as he drank. "Well we sort of are."

Elrond nodded as the orc continued to rip into his breakfast. "Nevertheless I never thought I would be around for this time, But Theodal, I welcome you and your orc friends to Rivendell as long as you desire."

Every orc raised a glass, Theodal noticed and raised his glass as Erestor, Glorfindel did the same and the table of mixed races called a cheers as they clinked their glasses together and enjoyed their breakfast.

Tarburz was still chuckling from a little scrap Erestor had gotten into with an elf woman long ago, He didn't know the elves did such things.

"Ok Tarburz, regale me with a story from your past."

Tarburz bit into a piece of bread before leaning back on his chair. "Well one time in the pits, two orcs got into a sword fight and soon enough another two orcs got involved and soon it was a giant free for all in the pits and I…. I used an orc as a shield!"

The uruk slapped his thigh as he rocked back in his chair laughing, Erestor decided to give a curtsey laugh, mainly because he would never use one of his own as a human shield although with an orc and uruk it might seems quite humurous.

Craklash had started to talk to Glorfindel about middle earth creatures. "So you managed to slay a balrog?"

The golden haired warrior nodded. "I jest not, It was a creature of mighty power and I managed to best it."

"I only thought there was one balrog, the one of Morgoth? Or am I mistaken?"

Glorfindel shrugged. "Maybe there are more about but they never come out of their mountains lairs so we are quite safe, now what is the most impressive kill you have claimed?"

Craklash chewed on some bread as he thought it over, he didn't want to tell him of any elves he had killed so he settle for his most impressive kill. "I remember during a scouting hunt we managed to skewer a snow troll and I delivered the killing blow."

Glorfindel raise his eyebrows. "Impressive, did you keep anything from it."

"Aye I did." Craklash rummaged around the many teeth on his necklace until he found a large troll tooth. "I ripped this from the beasts mouth as a reminder that if I can best a troll then I am quite a force to be messed with." He emphasised this by beating his chest a couple of times.

Glorindel then leaned in to whisper. "Then that makes two of us."

(-)

Shakgriig was busy making more funny faces at laughing elf children as he walked down the corridor with Theodal. "The children have taken a liking to you my friend."

The orc sniggered as he waved to two more. "They do I remember Elrond telling me, although I think their parents still need convincing before I am allowed to say anything to them."

Theodal laughed as he clapped Shakgriig on the back. "If your master could see you now."

Suddenly Shakgriig bumped into a female elf, she recoiled as she stumbled. "Oh I apologise, I was in quite a hurry."

Shakgriig just held up his clawed hand. "Not at all..er…Mil…Milady."

The female elf chuckled quietly as the orcs new taste in manners as she walked back up the corridor, Shakgriig looked her up and down as she turned a corner and left his sights.

"Who was that?" Gasped Shakgriig staring as he continued to walk.

"Did you now know? That was Lady Arwen, daughter of Elrond."

"She is a vision of beauty, I must talk to her."

"Then go and speak to her, she didn't seem afraid of you at all."

Shakgriig did not need telling twice as he went quickly back down the hall, Theodal shook his head and rolled his eyes as he kept on, then he noticed lord Elrond admiring the view of the gardens.

"Imladris truly is a marvel Lord Elrond."

The dark haired elf nodded in agreement. "Made even more beautiful by the feeling of Equality, I never thought we would ever house an orc within our gates."

Theodal smiled. "I never thought I would be made a member of a clan but here we are."

"Words of truth my friend, In fact there is a lone of duty I would like our new friends to perform if they are willing."

Theodal became curious. "What is this task you speak of?"

Elrond sighed. "Several orc tribes have formed around Eregion, they seem hostile, but I cannot jump to any conclusions, I would find it useful to use Narkus brotherhood with other orcs to see if these groups will parley and put down their weapons as your friends have, the war is over and I do not wish to lose any more elves."

Theodal thought for a second. "You should tell Narku, it is a good idea, However the clan leaders approval is needed, but Im sure for your service and gratitude they will happily help your cause."

Elrond smiled and bowed his head. "They will be doing a great good for the free peoples and will further increase our trust should they succeed."

Theodal wondered about if these orcs were the same without the influence of Sauron, he would have to ask Narku later for he was tired and needed rest, he retired to his quarters to sleep and think things over…

_The adventure will continue….._

**Anyway let me know how a follow up story would go down and also read, review and tell me what you think of the entire story as a whole thanks to every follower and review. :)**


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